Neil's Italeri 1/35 LCVP Landing Craft

[scottie3158]

Neil, all looking spiffing lock pins or not

[Scratchbuilder]

Jewels doth not maketh the woman - it's the class that tells, and you have plenty of it...

[Neil Merryweather]

Jewels doth not maketh the woman - it's the class that tells, and you have plenty of it...

Wow praise indeed from a master!
Thank you sir!

[Neil Merryweather]

Neil, all looking spiffing lock pins or not

Jewels doth not maketh the woman - it's the class that tells, and you have plenty of it...

.... from Two masters, wow!

[A_J_Rimmer]

Superb stuff - loving the new barrels!

[Neil Merryweather]

So I sprayed it all with Klear and gave it some washes and a bit of rust streaking with GW Agrax Earthshade ( one of their less exotic names) before going for the decals. I was agonising over which was the correct markings for which beach, with a view to making sure I have the correct unit insignia for the GI’s when they arrive.
This is further complicated by the fact that some units (but not all) wore an anti-gas impregnated denim HBT uniform over their regular uniform (the smell from which is possibly the cause of many of them throwing up), and I don’t want that; so accuracy in this regard would further dictate which unit I represent and at which beach . I have already weeded out those figures that are wearing this HBT (Herring-Bone Twill, for the uninitiated), so in the end I just thought ‘Who cares? - Artistic Licence’ and made up a number from the available decals and I will decide at a later date which unit to represent, based on which shoulder flash I fancy at the time.
I haven’t done decals for a long time but they went ok.
Then I started to think about the CITF. Here’s some of the inspiration



First up is rope. The kit provides a small amount for the fenders but I want a lot more. Luckily, for some reason I don’t remember, I have a large amount of proper model boat-type rope which really looks the part. It appears to be made in the same way as real rope, it’s not just a beige-coloured thread.
I started with the ropes for the sides


(these guys are clearly wearing the HBT over their regular uniforms)


This is very much an experiment but after my success with the Klear on the bow door cable I just tied a length of rope around the various stanchions, drowned it in Klear and weighted it to try and replicate the lumpy effect of the real thing.
Again, if I hadn’t seen the pictures I would expect the rope to hang in smooth curves, but clearly it didn’t.

And then I found a contemporary justification for the anchor in the correct type of Higgins boat -WOO HOO!


So that was next


Again I just drowned the rope in Klear and stuffed it into place with tweezers.
More the other side



And some on the stern -with at least a nod to ‘ship-shape and Bristol-fashion’


What’s nice about the model rope is that it frays very realistically.

So that's where we are today. Next it's tarpaulins.
Cheers
Neil

[Guest]

That’s really starting to look the business

[Neil Merryweather]

That’s really starting to look the business :smiling3:

thanks Jakko

[Jack L]

This is brilliant Neil!

[Jim R]

Very impressive work Neil. The front bulge (no sniggering at the back please) looks perfect and a very clever way of achieving it. Paint work is very nice indeed. A really first class build altogether.

[Neil Merryweather]

This is brilliant Neil!

Cheers Jack

[Neil Merryweather]

Very impressive work Neil. The front bulge (no sniggering at the back please) looks perfect and a very clever way of achieving it. Paint work is very nice indeed. A really first class build altogether.

Glad you like my bulge Jim :tongue-out3:
Thanks for the kind words , I am having fun!
N

[Bri62]

Stunning attention to detail Neil superb

[scottie3158]

Neil, that is looking the nuts mate with some lovely attention to detail.

[Neil Merryweather]

Thanks very much Brian and Paul.
I know I promised you tarpaulins in the last instalment, but there's something more important that I need to get done first, and that's the ROPE FENDERS.




This is what Italeri give you....



Apart from the fact that it’s hideous and doesn’t look like any of the references, there are only four of them (I want six),and they are going to be a Beatch to clean up the mould lines.
As you may remember I have been planning this for 10+years and back in the day there was a tantalising web-site that offered 1/35 scale versions of them, but they were never in stock, and now the site seems to have disappeared altogether. There are some available from model boat companies but they are all way too big.
In my 1-72 scale model Link to build thread HERE I used a short length of a particular type of shoe lace which worked very well



But I wanted to be a bit more detailed at this scale, so I thought I would try and weave my own with the model rope. surprisingly , by typing in 'Rope Fender' I did find plenty of You Tube videos on how to make a full-size one , so I settled down and had a go....
Well, suffice to say I didn’t even get past the first layer of knots before I decided to have another look for a bigger shoe lace!



Works for me



This is my prototype but I want it to be flatter, so I soaked it in Kleer and squished it in a clamp.



I did try using CA to harden it but whatever this shoelace is made from reacted so violently that it smoked and almost caught fire!
(I did think of JR )
So here are 3 of them. I lightly melted the tops with a lighter to stop the fraying but I want them frayed at the bottom.



I’m sorry I forgot to take more pics on the way , so here’s the finished articles in situ.
By the way, I found that wetting the model rope with water first is better than just going straight for the Kleer.







There is one last challenge- the stern fender , which Italeri don’t provide at all



I have this



it’s pyjama cord, and I'm going to see if I can cobble something together with my sewing skills, but if it doesn’t work I can live without it.
Well that's it for now
Thanks for watching
Neil